ON LETTERBOXD, WE LIKE TO DO A LITTLE FILM CHALLENGE CALLED "HOOPTOBER". That is, to task ourselves to watch horror movies all throughout the month of October which fit certain categories i.e. "Watch a Finnish horror film" or "Watch a film that features Dwight Frye in the cast" etc. etc. One of the cardinal rules of Hooptober, however, is you always have to watch at least one Tobe Hooper film. This year, that Tobe Hooper film is one I've never seen before: LIFEFORCE.
The movie has a lot of the feel of QUEEN OF BLOOD and would make a great double feature with that one. Based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel THE SPACE VAMPIRES, LIFEFORCE has a joint British-American crew about the Churchill checking out the returning Halley's Comet. The Churchill is captained by Carlsen (Steve Railsback) and filled with more British character actors than you can shake a stake at! I seriously was playing "Which DOCTOR WHO episode did THAT character actor appear in" all through the movie! It was wonderful! So what's inside Halley's Comet, you ask? Well, a huge spacecraft filled with dessicated bat creature corpses and three perfect humanoids in glass cases.
Oh, and they're nude. You should know going in that this movie is filled with a lot of nudie patooties running around. Well, the Churchill is found floating in Earth orbit and is discovered to have been completely gutted by fire with the dessicated burnt corpses of all the crew inside - - and three unharmed perfect human-looking specimens in glass cases that haven't been touched. The one female and two male bodies are taken to earth where the female quickly opens her eyes, sits up and sucks the life force out of a guy. These vampires don't suck blood but the life essence out of a person. Kinda rude. However, the victim's still alive (though now a dried out husk) and now can suck the life force out of somebody else. And on and on and on. Not sounding too good for Planet Earth.
LIFEFORCE is one of a three-picture deal he made with Cannon Film (CANNON FILMS?!?!?! YIKES!!!!) after his success with POLTERGEIST. The other two were INVADERS FROM MARS and TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 and I've sadly never seen those yet. LIFEFORCE is a heckuva good time with enough twists to keep things interesting and a viewer going "What the hell was that?!?!?!" This is a good thing. If the film does kinda loose steam in the second half, it's still well worth watching.
And hey, where else will you get to see Steve Railsback give Patrick Stewart a big smooch?!?
1 comment:
"And hey, where else will you get to see Steve Railsback give Patrick Stewart a big smooch?!?"
Or Patrick Stewart's head explode, for that matter!
"Lifeforce" is in the same genre of British SF as "Quatermass and the Pit": Throw as much into the movie as you can, and hope the viewer can keep up!
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